Betinvest levels the odds with customer support training

As the wider international gaming marketplace grows and the number of businesses on the scene increases, it’s more important than ever to position a strong customer support staff at the forefront of your brand according to Valentyn Kyrylenko VP of Business Development at Betinvest. Whether it’s allocating resource across the myriad of communication methods or liaising with VIPs, a good old fashioned customer service department is a key part of a customer’s journey even in today’s digital age…

If customers are not satisfied with level of the support they receive, it can be a reason for changing the bookmaker. All customer communication with the company goes through the customer service team. This department is the only point of contact with players. Various platforms and the odds betting companies offer can be more or less the same, so customer support could be a crucial factor while choosing the operator.

Therefore, customer care is a key part of a customer’s journey, which plays an integral part in forming their impression of a business.

Nowadays, taking an ‘omnichannel’ approach and interacting with players through the channel of their choice is an essential part of any customer support department. On top of that self-service is increasingly replacing direct contact in gambling industry. The way that customers interact with businesses is changing all over the world. Whereas previously customers would be more inclined to get in touch with a company via telephone, nowadays they prefer to do so via various messenger services. This does not, however, mean that companies need to move away from the telephone completely, as those who have a poor messaging experience as well as most of betting shops customers still do prefer to pick up the phone.

For this exact reason, every customer support department needs to adopt a holistic approach which allows customers to get in touch via telephone, email, online chat or messenger.

Another key trend is companies’ desire to automise aspects of the customer support process. Automisation is great for dealing with common requests as they can be resolved instantly. This is a win-win situation for both companies and customers, as the customer doesn’t have to wait for a solution and the company doesn’t need to use any resources to provide one.

In addition to the above, it’s also crucial to ensure the entire history of customers’ requests is recorded so that when a customer speaks to a different advisor there is no need for them to explain their problem again, as the advisor is already aware of their issue.

Whilst every customer service department may be organized differently depending on the needs and size of a business, they must fulfil the same core duties. So, let’s say there are five different levels of customer support, the first of which is front-line customer support, which usually deals with 80% of typical enquiries. They can be unable to deal with around 20% of customers’ requests as they may lack the required knowledge or access to information. This is where second-line support, who liaise with other departments, step in to provide an answer to a client’s enquiry.

Companies with ambitious goals might also consider having a retention team to deal with churn and VIP team to ensure special care and seamless experience for the most demanding clients.

Finally, quality assurance managers are the last, but by no means least, important link in the structural chain, as they monitor how customer service advisors interact (both during calls and in writing) with clients in order to improve the standard of service.

In small companies and start-ups, employees may be required to fulfil a number of the roles listed above. For instance, a team leader may also perform the duties of a quality assurance manager and an advisor can also perform a retention manager’s functions as well.

Whilst you can use the latest technology, there still needs to be someone who’s happy to help at the other end of the line. The core of any customer support is its team, which should be built around those who love other people with a strong sense of empathy.

When you start your business, it’s important to be prepared to deal with customers’ requests. Betinvest offers and runs a training programme for managers and customer support workers for its B2B clients, after which they return to their companies and impart the knowledge gained to their customer service advisors. Moreover, we always can run a course again or provide extra courses at the client’s request. It is a part of our clients’ service philosophy.

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